Cutaneous Senses Flashcards
(22 cards)
What are Cutaneous senses?
sensory experiences that come from the skin (touch, vibration, texture, shape, warmth, cold, itch, and pain)
What is Proprioception?
sensing the POSITION of your body and limbs
What is Kinesthesis?
sensing movement of the body and limbs (motion, controlling movement)
What is Haptic Perception?
Haptic perception is your brain’s ability to combine touch, movement, and position to understand objects (self guided motion, grasping objects
What is the Vestibular sense (equilibrioception)
balance and spatial orientation (sensing gravity and motion)
ear fluids moving bend the hairs that send signals
What does it mean for skin to be glabrous or non glabrous
Hairy or non hairy
How heavy is skin?
4kg (8% of body mass)
What are the layers of skin?
Outer layer = epidermis
Inner layer = dermis
Surface (dead skin cells) = corneum
where is the thinnest and thickes skin on your body?
Thinest = nose where glasses sit (0.5mm)
Thickest = feet (4.0mm)
What is Specificity theory
Specificity theory suggests that each type of sensory experience (like pain, pressure, heat, or cold) is caused by the activation of specific receptors and specific nerve fibers that are dedicated to that sensation.
According to specificity theory, What receptor is in charge of warmth
Ruffini endings
According to specificity theory, What receptor is in charge of cold
krause end bulbs
According to specificity theory, What receptor is in charge of touch
meissner corppuscles
According to specificity theory, What receptor is in charge of pain
Free nerve endings
how can we tell the difference between oil and water when dipping our hands in it?
some sensations we experience don’t have a single receptor, but instead are the result of combinations (“blends”) of simpler tactile sensations.
What is Punctate sensitivity?
certain tiny spots (or “puncta”) on the skin are specifically sensitive to particular types of stimuli, such as pressure, warmth, cold, or pain.
How do we find punctate sensitivity?
Microneurography - uses electrodes to find nerve fibers triggered by a stimulus
Histology - tracing a fiber back to the receptor
or just stimulate skin and record the sensation
What are the problems in finding punctate sensitivity?
problematic as there can be skin damage (self-dissection or damage to cornea) and sensory spots change throughout the day
What is the Thermal Grill Illusion
The thermal grill illusion occurs when warm and cool stimuli are applied to the skin, and the brain perceives a burning or painfully hot sensation, even though neither stimulus is actually hot or painful on its own
What does the Pattern theory suggest?
Pattern Theory suggests that a pattern of activity across many different receptors is what determines the type of sensation we experience — not just the stimulation of one “special” receptor.
Pattern theory suggusts that receptors differ in structure, but not in ________. The same receptor can also yield in ____ differrent kinds of sensations.
Function ; 2
eg. mild pressure = touch, intense pressure = pain
What does “stimulus preference” mean, and what is the intermediate appraoch?
Stimulus preference = nerve fibers tend to respond best to certain kinds of input (like pain), but they’re not limited to one type of stimulus, their response is also flexible and context-dependent,
